Yes, you read that title correctly: my latest *find* is a portrait of one of the horses belonging to the Smiths of Suttons.

“Tom Tit“, seen here in a detail of the portrait which hangs at The Vyne, is mentioned by name over several years.

In a letter written by young Drummond Smith, who was staying at The Vyne in January 1823, Mamma is told: “I am very much obliged to you for your letter… Uncle Chute went out hunting this morning, Spencer has been out twice and Tom Tit performed very well.”

Drummond, writing from Harrow in 1825, asks his sister Charlotte, “Have Fanny Emma and Augusta had any rides since they have been at Ashby, so Tom Tit has made another trip there….”

By the following July, staying with his newly-married brother Charles, Drummond is writing sister Fanny from Suttons: “Tom Tit is very well indeed (if that is any satisfaction to you) I had the pleasure of riding him today…”

That year — March 1826 — Emma mentions the bay hunter; he is being ridden by Fanny and obviously “in Town” with the Smiths. Mary never mentioned the horse, but Charles did — and he put his young bride on Tom Tit’s back.

The portrait, by F. Margetts, dates to 1820. There is a second Vyne portrait (of Thunderbolt, another bay hunter; dated 1810), but I have been unable to find much about the artist.